A Friend in Chains
by Arewegroot
Summary: Semi-AU. Team 7 is a three man squad, made up of Minato Namikaze, Rin Nohara, and Obito Uchiha, who are sent on a mission to a small village where slavery is still being practiced. To pass the time Obito decides to teach a slave boy how to be a ninja. Who happens to be a natural at it.
1. Chapter 1

Genin teams are usually structured of three Genin fresh from the academy and one Jounin sensei who would help them reach their full potential. It rarely ever happened that a team consisted of just two genin-mostly because whoever assigns the teams makes sure to not leave them as a two man cell. Namikaze Minato's team 7 seemed to be one of those very rare occasions.

His team consisted of Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin. The Uchiha boy was somewhat of an outcast from his own clan based on his "non-Uchiha" personality and his lack of getting a hold of something naturally. Minato admired the boy's determination to prove himself and his inability to give up. His other cute little student was a kinouchi born into a civilian family. She was one of the top in her class but seemed to lack in physical strength. Although she tried to make up for it with putting all her effort during their training sessions and her talent in medical ninjutsu. She was a sweet girl and seemed to keep Obito from blowing his top when his hot headed temper got the best of him.

Overall, Minato loved his team and his little students. They all worked well together once his students understood that it' was all in the teamwork. Even so, their three man cell limited the amount of missions they could take on, seeing as many missions had the standard requirement of four man cells, and their sensei's overprotective nature didn't help either. War seemed to be inevitable for Konohagakure more and more these days. The Namikaze knew he couldn't keep them away for much longer, Konoha would need all of her shinobi in hand when the time came, but he would be damned if he didn't try to keep them safe for a little while longer.

/

"What are we going to do today, Sensei?" Rin asked, as she and Obito followed him towards the assignment room.

"We're not going to get another stupid D rank, right?" Obito said, fixing his goggles over his eyes. "We're ninja now Sensei! We should be doing real ninja missions!"

"I'm not entirely sure, Obito." Minato said. "Our team is one man shorter than the others but we've been completing a good amount of D-ranks. So I'm sure we could get a simple C-rank now."

"Alright!" Obito cheered.

"But, considering that we're running late, it's possible that all of the C-rank missions that our team is qualified to do have already been assigned."

Obito rubbed the back of his neck, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks alongside with an equally embarrassed grin. Rin rested her hand on Obito's elbow and gave him a smile, which made him blush for an entirely different reason.

"It's alright Obito-kun," Rin reassured him. "You should just try harder to make it on time."

"Yeah, sorry. I'll try my best, I promise."

/

A sharp knocking at his door informed the Sandaime Hokage that the next team he had called for had finally arrived.

"Come in." Hiruzen Sarutobi said gently, his voice still managing to carry an air that demanded respect and attention. He smiled as he watched the trio walk in, the famous 'Yellow Flash' and his two genin.

"Hai Hokage-sama." All three of them said simultaneously, bowing to him.

"You're here for your mission then, I take it?" Sarutobi asked, already eyeing a potential D rank the team could handle.

"Yes, that's correct."

"Wonderful. I have this special mission that I feel is just perfect for your team, a bit of masonry…" The older man had begun to explain, when he noticed with amusement the boy genin of the team develop a peculiar twitch. It almost seemed to be morphing into a sneer, before a flash of yellow far too quick for the eyes of the genin appeared and the young boy's head snapped forward for a moment, before returning back to its natural position, the would be sneer replaced with a face of begrudging acceptance. Hiruzen looked over at the Namikaze, whose stoic face didn't give away any indication that he had just slapped his genin into obedience.

A small smile tugged at the Hokage's lips as he pushed aside the D-rank mission, before he scooted back in his chair a bit to reach for his lowest drawer. Opening it up, he thumbed through a few before finding one he thought suitable.

"Actually, Namikaze-san, I think this mission would be more...appropriate. I believe it would be something that would give your team the chance to excel. There's a small village a fair distance away from the land's borders that has been sending requests for help with local mobsters. They've been terrorizing the village, and reports seem to indicate more organization than a standard band of thugs is capable of. Your team's job would consist of entirely eliminating this threat. I'll leave the decision of whether or not you'll be infiltrating their ranks, although you'll be surprised to learn that the village seems to be forming a small militia consisting of the men. Do with that what you will. Do you feel that your team is capable of handling this mission?"

Minato's brow furrowed as he dwelled on the mission. Personally, he wasn't certain Obito and Rin were ready for their mission which would almost certainly call for them to spill blood, but he knew that it was also his duty to prepare them for much worse in what would hopefully be much later in their careers. Torn about the decision, the answer finally came to him when he looked over to see both of his students staring at him intently, their eyes pleading to allow them the chance to prove themselves. With a reluctant sigh, the Yellow Flash gave in.

/

"Alright team let me go over the plan before we head out."

Minato and his team were standing before the village's gates in the early morning. They all had traded in their ninja gear for civilian clothing. Minato and Rin had no trouble finding clothes that didn't give out any signs that they were trained ninjas. Obito on the other hand had needed to go to the village's shopping square to buy new clothing considering that every single thing he already owned had his clan's emblem on them.

Minato kneeled in front of his students and brought out a map of the Fire Country.

"The village that we are going to is called Takuya village. It's a good three days away from Konoha so if we leave now we should be there by midafternoon on Wednesday. Takuya is quite small but it has a good agricultural based economy which would explain why recently they've been having trouble with this mobster group. Takuya's village council has been preparing to fight back against them."

"So why did they ask for help if they're already planning to start an uprising?" Rin asked.

"They asked for help as a precaution." Minato answered. "In case the mob group decides to bring in anyone with knowledge of ninjutsu. I doubt that will happen but it has been known to had happen before so they didn't want to take any chances."

"Once we arrive at Takuya we will be meeting with their council to be debriefed on what has happened the three days that we took to get there. Now remember," Minato looked up from the map and met his students' eyes, his own getting a glint of warning a parent would give to their troublesome child. "We are all supposed to be random travelers who are planning to stay and rest at Takuya so do _not_ use any of your skills while we are there until they are absolutely necessary or until I find a good secluded area within the village for us to keep up with our training, alright?"

"Hai sensei!" Obito and Rin both nodded their understanding.

"Good, let's go."

/

"Seriously Minato-sensei, I am going to starve if we don't stop to eat something soon." Obito whined, rubbing his growling tummy.

"I have to agree with Obito sensei," Rin said. "We should stop for lunch."

It's been three days since they had left for Takuya and they weren't very far from the village so Minato agreed that it was a good time to stop for food. They followed a sign that showed them the way to a small family owned restaurant that was meant to serve hungry travelers.

"Welcome to Kawasaki's Restaurant," A teenage girl greeted them once they entered. "You can sit where ever you want and I'll be there to collect your orders soon."

After they had ordered and received their food (both Minato and Obito had ordered a bowl of ramen while Rin had gone for a plate of Chicken Katsu) Minato felt that it was a good time to inform his students about a little detail about Takuya village.

"Do you two remember your history classes from the Academy?" Minato asked, blowing at his noodles to cool them down a bit.

"A little, why?" Obito said, a little muffled considering he was talking with a full mouth of noodles.

"Obito!" Rin scolded. "Don't talk with your mouth full!"

"Well do you two remember when our village practiced slavery?"

"Yes," Rin answered. "Our village practiced it for a while until the Shodai Hokage put an end to it once he was chosen as Hokage."

"That's right, Rin." Minato said, letting Rin know he was proud of her for remembering that with a smile.

"But what does that have to do with anything?" Obito asked, confused on the random trivia question about their village.

"Well unlike our village, the Takuya village still practice the act of slavery." Minato informed them. "In fact, most of their population consists of slaves."

"What?" Obito exclaimed loudly, some of the noodles that he was chewing flying out of his mouth. He swallowed what was left in his mouth and quickly apologized so that he could continue to loudly express his confusion. "But I thought Rin said that slavery was outlawed? Why is Takuya still practicing it?"

"Well slavery is outlawed in most places within the Fire Country," The oldest ninja said. "But a few do still practice it, for example Takuya village. In the Fire Country every village is able to choose between either allowing slavery and or abolishing slavery in their village law in order to avoid conflict among the country in fear that it could split it in half."

"But isn't that wrong?" Rin asked, a small frown settled on her lips. "I mean, they're people too. Is it not wrong that they are deprived of their freedom to do whatever they want with their lives?"

"Well in our eyes and the eyes of our village it is wrong," Minato said to his female student. "But in the eyes of Takuya village it's a perfectly normal thing and even if we had laws on our side it's nearly impossible to change someone's beliefs and morals."

"That still doesn't mean it's right though," Obito said glaring into his bowl of ramen, his tone in voice a lot more serious then it usually is.

"I agree," Minato said, calmly to his usually hyperactive student. "It's not. But our mission is not to go to their village and to try to change their views. So please do not say anything about the matter that could cause conflict."

His students both remained silent, Obito still glaring into his food while Rin pursed her lips together to show her dislike about the matter. But all in all, they understood what their sensei was talking about and what he meant about staying quite. So they both spoke their understanding.

"Hai sensei."

After they quickly finished their meals and payed in silence. They continued their way towards Takuya village and arrived there right before midafternoon. At the gates of Takuya stood a man who had a strong build, black hair with touches of gray at his roots which made his green eyes seem to shine a lot brighter, and was around Minato's height.

"Ryusaki-sama?" Minato asked once he and his team stood in front of the man.

"Yes!" The man exclaimed. "I am Ryusaki Michio, and you all must be the team they sent to help us."

"Yes we are, I am Namikaze Minato and these are my students Nohara Rin and Uchiha Obito." Minato said, placing a hand on top of his students' heads to emphasize which was which.

"Nice to meet you Ryusaki-sama." Both Rin and Obito greeted,

"We were told that you would be debriefing us about the situation further once we got here." Minato said.

"Ah yes," Ryusaki said. "You'll be informed at my home were the rest of the council are waiting and it is also where you and your students will be staying. Follow me."

As the team of 3 followed the leader of the village along the streets they were able to see that what Minato-sensei had said about Takuya's practices of slavery to be true. As people passed by them it was clear to them which was a villager and which was a slave.

The villagers were dressed in normal clothing and seemed to live their lives peacefully. Awhile you could clearly see that some slaves wore worn out rags as clothing, others wore chains around their feet and others had the enigma of their masters branded onto their skins. They walked the streets with clouded eyes and tired movements. The sight made a knot form within all of Team 7's stomachs.

"We're here," Ryusaki said, opening the door to a two story house. The inside of the house was averagely spaced as any other house but its furniture made sure to show the position of power the owner had in the village.

"I'll have one of my house slaves show you to your rooms so you can get settled in and then I can you, Namikaze-san, over to the debriefing." Ryusaki reached for a gold bell that sat on one of shelves of the book case that was in the living room and rang it. The bell sent a loud chime throughout the bottom floor. "The young ones can go ahead and rest while we're catching you up to date, Namikaze-san."

"Thank you, Ryusaki-sama." Minato-sensei said a little unenthusiastically.

"You called, sir?" a monotone voice behind Ryusaki said.

Who Team 7 saw stand behind the Takuya village leader broke all their hearts.

It was a boy. A boy who seemed no older than Rin and Obito. He had silver hair that defied gravity and half lidded grey eyes. He was dressed in the same worn out rags that the other slaves wore but the only difference was the dirty green scarf that covered the bottom half of his face.

"Ah yes, Kakashi." Ryusaki greeted the boy with a smile. "Could you show our guests to their rooms?"

"Yes, sir." The boy, Kakashi said. He turned on his heel and started to walk forward. "Please, follow me."


	2. Chapter 2

Every single team member was given a room (Rin's being right across from his and Minato-sensei's room to his right). The rooms were the size of a normal bedroom, nothing too exaggerated like most bedrooms that pertained to noble families and to the head family of his clan were. The size of the room failed to show that one was sleeping in a noble's house, but the expensive looking decorations that the room had made sure to make up for it. It was a beautiful room with an amazingly comfortable bed he was currently laying on. If he didn't have so many thoughts running through his head, Obito would be dead to the world right about now. His mind replaying what had happened a couple of hours ago.

" _What did the council tell you sensei?" Rin asked Minato when he had entered Obito's room. The two chunins had decided to wait for their sensei to return in Obito's room, where they got to relax and just enjoy each other's company (much to Obito's delighted little heart)._

" _Well most of the information was mostly the same that we were provided in the mission files," Minato said. "But they also informed me that for some reason that the mobsters have started to get violent for some reason. On Monday they attacked and killed some villager's slaves that were picking crops in the fields."_

" _Do they know why?" asked Obito._

" _No they weren't able to figure out why they decided to attack and kill the slaves." Minato answered. "They've never gotten to the point to harming their slaves knowing that it would harm production and ruin their investments."_

" _They're just worried about the money?" Rin asked, horrified._

" _Well most of their revenue comes from farm production and considering that they use their slaves as farm tools so it would make sense why they would be worried about it."_

" _That still isn't right" Rin mumbled._

" _So Minato-sensei, what are we going to do?" Obito asked._

" _Well we're going to wait and train until the village is ready to start their attack on the mobsters." Minato said. "I'll be searching for a secluded place for us to train out of the public eye."_

Obito kicked his legs to help himself get to a sitting position. He hopped of the bed and made his way towards the door, opening it slowly in hopes of not waking up the others. He quietly ventured out down the hallway. He'd rather take a look around the house then shuffle restlessly around the bed waiting for sleep to come and get him.

* * *

 _ **It's official I'm lost.**_

At some point in his little midnight stroll Obito had taken a wrong turn and had gotten himself lost. The house somehow became a lot larger and a lot more complicated in the dark. His mind wasn't helping matters. Every dark corner and moonlight caused shadow seemed to transform into dark disgusting monsters that he use to believe lived under his bed (he still does at times, when his toes are sticking out from his blanket at night).

His eyes started watering a bit as he found that the turn he had taken was a dead end.

"I'm going to die in this house," Obito said to himself. "No one will be able to find me and I'm going to die alone. I didn't even get a chance to tell Rin how I feel."

Right after he had voiced out his worries he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, causing his body to stiffen, his heart come up to his throat, and his lungs to fail to drag in a complete breath. He held himself completely still, tears flowing down his eyes freely, hoping that if he stood still long enough that the weight of the hand would go away.

This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real.

"Do you want to stay here forever?" a low airy voice asked, causing Obito to turn completely pale and jump away from the hand with a scream.

His fighting instincts quickly kicked in afterwards, Obito turned to face the evil spirit in a fighting stance, completely ready to fight to the death with the thing (well not to the death because he would very much like to be hokage). But the evil spirit in front of him wasn't an evil spirit, it was the slave boy that had shown them to their rooms.

For a while the two just stood there, looking at each other. Obito out of shock and the slave boy (Kakashi, he remembered his name to be) waiting for Obito's next move. Obito felt like the other boy was analyzing him. As if he was watching every little quiver of muscle on Obito's body. It wasn't until their eyes finally locked on to each other that Obito finally spoke out.

"What the hell!" Obito yelled, pointing an accusing finger to the white haired boy. "What did you do that for!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kakashi said nonchalantly, slouching a bit to the side. "I just asked if you need my help."

"You asked me if I wanted to stay here forever!" Obito exclaimed, waving his arms around as he spoke for emphasis. "You asked me if I wanted to stay here forever with a spooky voice!"

"Exactly I asked you if you needed my help by asking you if wanted to stay here. That you being here was your intention." Kakashi said, Obito swore he could feel Kakashi was smirking at him through that stupid green scarf of his. Which made his temper rise.

"You scared me half to death!"

"It's not my fault that you're a big cry baby."

"You jerk…..I had something in my eye." Obito mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"Sure you did." Kakashi smugly said. "Do you want me to take you back to your room or not?"

Kakashi didn't wait for a reply, he just simply turned on his heel and started to lead Obito back.

"H-hey, wait for me you jerk!"

Obito followed Kakashi silently, mostly because he didn't want to talk to the jerk. As he followed him his surroundings started to become more familiar and before Obito knew it they came to a stop in front of his bedroom door.

"Here you are," Kakashi said. He turned on his heel once again and started to walk the way they had come from, he raised a hand in the air as a sign of goodbye. "Goodnight."

Obito didn't want him to leave.

He didn't want to be stuck in his room until his body finally registered that it was really late and that he should be in bed.

He didn't want to be alone.

So what better way to solve that problem than to hang out with a total stranger.

"H-hey!" He nervously called out, his voice soft enough to not wake up his team but loud enough for the slave boy to hear him.

Kakashi stopped and turned to look at the taller boy, his body slouched to the side and his eyes half lidded that made him look like he was completely bored out of his mind. He raised one of his eyebrows at Obito to signal him to continue what he was saying.

"We should get something to eat," Obito said. "Something from the kitchen."

"It's the middle of the night." Kakashi responded.

"I know."

It was silent between the two until the silver haired boy finally responded.

"Okay."

* * *

"What's your name?" Obito heard the slave boy ask him.

They were seated across from each other but Obito was the only one really eating anything. Kakashi had decided to make him some instant ramen noodles, not wanting to rewash any of the pots and pans he had already washed. They had been sitting in quiet companionship for a while when the white haired boy had decided to speak, scarring Obito.

"Uchiha Obito." He answered, after slurping up his noodles.

"Nice to meet you, Uchiha-san." Kakashi said, sounding completely clean and clear even with the dirty green scarf covering his mouth. Silence quickly settled around them once again, only to be broken by Obito's obnoxious slurping. It was nice, just sitting their with the other boy but curiosity was starting to itch at him. He tried to hold it back because he seriously didn't want to make whatever tiny relationship that was forming around them to crumble.

"Have you always been a slave?"

 _Damnit._

Obito cursed his weakness as he watched one of Kakashi's eyebrows rise up and how his eye gave a small twitch. Obito couldn't tell if it was from anger, annoyance, or from something else.

"Since I was born." Kakashi said.

"Do you...ever get tired of...of you know, being one?" Obito asked.

"I've never known anything else." Kakashi said. "It's all I know."

"I know but," Obito said, leaning closer into Kakashi, his hands stablizing him on the table. His nose only inches away from Kakashi's, causing the other boy to lean back in an effort to save his personal space. " _Do you get tired of it?_ "

Kakashi couldn't help the twitch of his fingers and his eyes widening. He just stared back into Obito's eyes, that were filled with anger but not towards him. It looked like the Uchiha boy was angry _for_ him. After the shock left his system, Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the other boy and sat up straighter.

"Why do you care?" Kakashi said, defensively.

"Because I know that I would get tired if I was you." Obito said.

"I'm not you." Kakashi said leaning in closer as each word held more anger in them, holding Obito's glare with his own.

Then just like that something switched in Kakashi's eyes going from burning panic and anger to completely emotionless, as if he had remembered something. He slowly got off his chair and started to walk to the kitchen's doorway before stopping.

"I'll lead you back to your room, Uchiha-san." Kakashi said without turning around to look back at Obito. His voice sounded as monotone as when Obito and his team had first arrived.

"Okay." Obito said, getting off of his seat and then started to follow the slave boy.

It wasn't until later, when Obito was in his room staring up at the ceiling once again, that he had realized that Kakashi had let himself to act as another child around Obito instead of putting on his slave persona. It was only when Obito started prying that Kakashi reverted back to that monotone dead eyed look the other slaves had.

* * *

Obito didn't remember when he had drifted off to sleep but based on how heavy his eyelids felt, he was pretty sure he hadn't managed to be asleep more than a few hours.

"Did you have trouble sleeping last night, Obito?" Rin asked.

Minato-sensei had woken them both up with a knock at their door and a call to meet him downstairs. Together the two young ninjas headed down the stairs towards the kitchen just like their sensei had asked them.

"Uh...yeah." Obito said. "The old house noises kept waking me up."

Rin gave him a look that clearly said that she did not believe him but kept her concerns and disbelief to herself.

They entered the kitchen and Obito noticed that with the morning light sneaking in through the windows instead of the vast darkness from last night that the kitchen looked a lot more homey. There were three slaves that were rushing around the kitchen preparing food and cleaning the mess as they did.

Obito immediately identified Kakashi being one of the three slaves working in the room and he debated if he should greet the other boy. But before he could decided, Kakashi took it upon himself to decided for him.

Kakashi didn't even look as he brushed past Obito to leave the plate of food he was carrying in front of Ryusaki. Which totally pissed Obito off. With a huff Obito pulled out the wooden chair he had been using last night and sat down. Instead of it being a slave boy, Minato-sensei was now the one sitting in front of him and based on the questioning look he sent him, Obito guessed that his face showed his annoyance.

"Morning sensei, Ryusaki-Sama." Rin said, greeting the two adults for the both of them.

"Good morning you two." Minato smiled. "How did you sleep?"

"Fine," Obito grunted out, glaring at Kakashi as the slave boy placed his own plate in front of him. Kakashi ignored him. "I slept fine."

Minato sent Rin a look after seeing Obito's weird attitude towards the boy, asking if she knew what was going on but only got a confused shrug in return.

"Uh...Ryusaki-sama," Minato said, turning to the head of the table to look at the man. "I was wondering if you knew of a secluded area where I would be able to help my students keep up their training and for them to prepare for the attack."

"Oh, yes of course!" Ryusaki exclaimed, wiping his mouth before clapping his hands. "Kakashi, come!"

Obito couldn't help but bristle at how Ryusaki called Kakashi over like he was some kind of dog. But it didn't seem to have fazed Kakashi as he emotionlessly walked up to the man (or maybe Kakashi just didn't let it show that it actually did bother him).

"Yes?" Kakashi said.

"Now I don't know how secluded this area could possibly be," Ryusaki said, turning back to face Minato while completely ignoring Kakashi. "But I'm sure it could do you all some good."

"Show them to the shrine," He said, finally going back to acknowledging Kakashi. "You know the one."

* * *

Kakashi led the two ninjas and the annoying blob of flesh towards the old shrine that was hidden in the patch of woods that was behind his master's house.

"So...how old are you exactly, Kakashi?" Rin asked.

It had been quiet amongst the group. The silence having being caused by the awkward tension between Obito and Kakashi; which made no sense to Minato or Rin. The two hadn't even spoken to each other yet but it seemed like they had already managed to get on the wrong foot.

"I'm eleven." Kakashi said.

"Oh, you're just a year younger than my two students here." Minato voiced in, cheerfully.

Kakashi decided instead of trying to keep their attempt of conversation (because in all honesty he did not want to talk to these people), he decided to just continue to lead them down the tricky, confusing path to the shrine. But sadly, they couldn't take a hint.

"I like your scarf, Kakashi," Rin said, picking up her pace so she could walk next to Kakashi. "Where did you get it?"

There was a few seconds of silence, which Minato labeled as some sort of hesitation from the slave boy, before Kakashi answered.

"My dad gave it to me." Kakashi's voice sounded strained in attempt to keep emotion out of it, but Rin failed to hear it.

"Oh," Rin said, getting excited about the fact that Kakashi was talking to her. "That's nice. Is your father a um...slave to Ryusaki-sama too?"

"I don't think that is any of your business." Kakashi said, quick and harsh.

The sudden negative tone caused Team 7 to jump back from surprise. Rin couldn't help but feel hurt from the boy's sudden outlash and started to slow her pace down.

"Sorry," Rin mumbled, rubbing her upper arm and looking down shamefully.

Obito was _outraged._

How dare this..this _jerk_ speak to Rin like that. Rin, who had only been trying to be _nice._

"Hey!" Obito yelled, grabbing the boy's shoulder and yanking him back to force him to turn around and face him. "You didn't have to snap at her! She was just trying to be nice."

"She was being noisy," Kakashi hissed, slapping Obito's hand away. "Something you two have in common."

"Alright you two," Minato said, stepping in between when he saw Obito pull back his elbow in an effort to punch the younger boy. "That's enough."

Kakashi huffed before turning his back onto the team.

"I'm sorry for my behavior." Kakashi said, his voice sounding strained like last night. "Please...forgive me and let me continue to lead you to where you need to go."

Kakashi, unlike last night, waited for Minato's order to continue. The slave boy started to walk forward but Minato placed his hands in front of Rin and Obito before they could move to follow Kakashi again.

"I want you two to be careful with what you say towards Kakashi." Minato said. "We don't want to offend him, especially since we do not understand what he's been through all these years."

"Well he has to stop being a jerk." Obito argued.

"I'm serious, Obito."

Obito crossed his arms over his chest and pouted his outer lip but nodded his head to show his understanding.

"Understood, sensei." Rin said.

Minato smiled at his two students before letting them follow Kakashi once again, taking up the rear in case of an ambush.

It was a force of habit, but it was a good habit to have.

* * *

Hey ...Im not dead

this took forever


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Okay look guys. It took me so long to actaully want to write this stupid fic. Maybe it's because I'm not so into Naurto anymore and maybe because I just hate this fic in general. But I'm going to keep writing this because so many of you seem to actually like it for some reason.**_

 _ **SO to make me enjoy writing this fic, I made it gay.**_

 _ **This is going to be a Kakashi/Obito fic my dudes. Not very heavy though since I had planned this to be more friendship oriented but fuck it if i have to write this I'm going to do something that makes me enjoy it. Which means gay.**_

* * *

The shinobi stayed a lot longer than they were originally supposed to. Some of the villagers had started to get nervous and second guessed their small uprising against Gaku and his goons. The village council and every male in the village (because apparently this didn't affect the women) came together and decided to push back the date of the attack, which meant that the shinobi had to stay _longer_ , and Kakashi was the slave to have to fucking deal with them.

He couldn't stand them.

Well no, he had managed to find some sort of respect for Namakize-san ("You don't have to call me that Kakashi. Just call me Minato.") and he guessed that the Rin girl wasn't as bad as he had originally thought, but the same could not be said about the Uchiha.

Kakashi hated him and based on the past couple of days the Uchiha seemed to reciprocate those feelings. Although, the thing that annoyed him the most about Obito Uchiha is that Kakashi was _forced_ to be civil with the asshole (but to be honest Kakashi did have a breaking point and the Uchiha seemed to know exactly how to reach it). It was either be civil to the fucking idiot or get a lashing.

His back still hurt from the last one.

* * *

"I think I'm going to practice a little longer sensei."

Kakashi had to resist a groan. He had been standing to the side watching Namakaze-san train his two students for most of the day and now he was going to be forced to stay behind with the idiot because apparently Namakaze-san felt that it would be safer for everyone to be in pairs. Instead of going back to the house and getting the sleep, he deserved in the corner of the laundry room that was supposed to be his "living space", he had to stay here and wait until the Uchiha gave up.

"Alright, Obito," Minato said to his student. "We'll see you two back at home."

And with that Rin and Namakaze-san took the path back to the house.

Kakashi felt the over IQ number of their training area drop by the tens.

"You can leave you know," Uchia said, glaring at Kakashi. "I don't need you here."

"I was given orders to stay with you," Kakashi said, keeping his voice completely monotoned and whatever could be seen of his face emotionless. "but trust me, if I could, I would get as far away from you as possible."

" _Baka!_ "

* * *

The council still hasn't made up their mind about if they should stick with the uprising or not.

It's been two weeks since the shinobi were supposed to leave.

It was the fifth day the Uchiha had decided to stay back and train a little longer.

Kakashi watched silently, from where he leaned against a tree, as Obito practiced his shuriken throws and the newest move Namakaze had shown him.

From what Kakashi was witnessing, he could understand why the Uchiha had decided to stay back and train more.

* * *

They're doing an actual debate about the uprising as if half of the town weren't illiterate idiots.

Four weeks.

The two of them stayed back for what felt like the millionth time.

The Uchiha's aim has gotten better…but Kakashi didn't voice out the compliment.

* * *

He hated this fucking town.

Four weeks and two days.

The Uchiha laid next to the make shift dummy, trying to fight back the frustrated tears.

"Here," Kakashi said, thrusting the water canteen that he had refilled for the Uchiha towards said Uchiha's face.

"Uh…," Obito slowly took the water canteen, obviously not trusting the other boy. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome," Kakashi said. He did a short quick movement like it had hurt to turn around and walk back to his original spot.

"Don't…don't give up," Kakashi said, as if the words had hurt him to say. "You're…improving." He finished saying to the shinobi boy before he went back to his tree.

* * *

Five weeks and four days.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi let slip from his covered lips as he sat next to the other boy under the tree, his back pressed against the scratchy bark. "I…I shouldn't have acted the way I did."

"What are you talking about?" Obito managed to ask out between little huffs of breath.

The two of them had been forced to interact with each other for weeks now because not only did Obito want to improve but Kakashi really didn't want to get another lashing, so the two of them were inevitably becoming quite close. Surprisingly, when they weren't trying to get a rise out of each other, the two of them got along well.

"When you asked if I liked being a slave," Kakashi said. "I…shouldn't have acted like that towards you."

"Oh…" Obito trailed off, not knowing how exactly to respond. "It's okay…I shouldn't have asked you that. I'm…I'm sorry too."

Comfortable silence settled between the two. The rustle of cool wind passing through and knocking down leaves that fell onto the ground and the boys' hair, being the only source of sound in the area.

* * *

Eight weeks.

Obito was practicing his punches and kicks on the wooden dummy while Kakashi tried to read the book Obito had managed to steal from Ryusaki's office. Obito had been stealing and returning books for Kakashi since the silver haired boy had told him that the only reason he could actually read was because Kakashi was in charge of getting the groceries. So, they taught him how to read what was on the grocery list, not from actual books.

Obito snuck in to Ryusaki's office that night and grabbed the first book he saw, the same day Kakshi told him.

"What's today's book about?" Obito asked, pushing the dummy causing his already bruised knuckles to bleed a bit.

"It's about these two friends," Kakashi said, turning the page. He was already on the tenth chapter. "and they have to travel to this other world to save their third friend. I'm pretty sure these two are in love with each other. No matter how hard the author tries to brain wash me by forcing the so-called relationship between the loud mouth friend and the quiet girl that isn't even important to the story line."

"Uh…" Obito said, his attack faltering a bit. "Okay…sounds great dude."

"It's mediocre at best," Kakashi said.

The two boys went back to doing their own thing, until Obito got bored. He had been practicing like this for weeks, waiting for some old dudes to decide if him and his team coming here in the first place was necessary.

"Do you want me to teach you some of this stuff?' Obito asked, having voiced the idea out before he had thought it through.

"Teach me what?" Kakashi asked. He ripped some blades of grass and used it to save his place in the book before he settled it onto the ground and gave Obito his full attention, knowing that the Uchiha really appreciated it when he did that for some reason.

"Teach you how to be a ninja," Obito said with a shrug and a little more shyly then he had the first time.

"Okay," Kakashi said. He got up and dusted his pants before he stood in front of his friend, waiting for him to "teach him".

"Oh," Obito said, not having expected Kakashi to give in so soon. "Oh, okay. I uh…"

He looked around their little area, trying to see what exactly he could show Kakashi, where he could start.

"Oh! I know!" Obito exclaimed as he picked up a stray leaf from the ground.

"Okay so we all have this thing called chakra," He said as he placed the leaf on his hand. "Every living thing basically has this energy we call chakra, but shinobi have to learn how to control it because, you know, it's how we do our jutsu."

"So, this leaf thing," Obito said as he channeled enough chakra to make the dying leaf float a few inches above his hand. "Is a way for us to practice how to use our chakra."

"So, uh," Obito let the leaf fall back to his hand before he grabbed Kakashi's hand and forced him to hold it out in the palm facing upwards position his had been before he placed the leaf in his hand. "You try. Just…think about moving energy towards your hand."

Kakashi looked at the leaf that was now in his hand and then looked up at Obito. He didn't say anything to make Obito feel like an idiot, but he really didn't have to, the one flawless eyebrow Kakashi had raised at him was enough to do that.

"Look, just," Obito stumbled over his words, his cheeks colored pink. "Trust me, okay?"

"I do," Kakashi said, a little too quickly and way too easily for the silver haired boy's comfort. "I trust you. Promise."

"Oh…okay, cool," Obito grinned, his cheeks still pink but this time there was a small warmth in his chest.

"Yeah…cool," Kakashi said, smiling from behind his dirty green scarf. He coughed a little, trying to get rid of whatever this feeling of…whatever.

"So I just focus my…energy to my hand," Kakashi said, trying to recap what Obito had said. "How…how do I do that?"

"I like to imagine the chakra moving from my stomach to wherever I need it to go," Obito said with a shrug. "Maybe try that?"

Kakashi nodded. He spaced out his feet and shook his shoulders a bit, not knowing exactly what to do. He wiggled his fingers before he started to imagine his chakra to move from his bellybutton to his hand. Immediately Kakashi felt a tingling sensation travel to his hand until the leaf floated effortlessly in his hand.

"No way," Obito whispered, completely dumbfounded with his mouth hanging open. "That…that took me _days_ to figure out. How did…how did you?"

"I don't know…" Kakashi said. "I just…did what you told me to."

Obito and Kakashi stared at the leaf, both completely stunned by what Kakashi was already able to do.

"What now?" Kakashi asked after a couple of minutes.

"Well shit, I don't know," Obito said. "I thought this would take all day."


End file.
